AIA/ALA Library Building Awards announced

The six winners of the 2013 Library Building Awards are all examples of design responses to the needs of local communities.

The biennial awards are made jointly by the American Institute of Architects and the American Library Association.

The six outstanding projects cited include the renovation of the St Louis Central Library and the ambitious James B Hunt Jr Library in Raleigh, North Carolina. The four other libraries are all community or neighbourhood libraries, one of them a dedicated teen centre in Harlem.

All six are examples of innovation in design and the use of technology, and reflect architectural attention to building sustainability.